


Quality of Life

by therumjournals



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Community: pintofest, Drabble, M/M, Pinto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-25
Updated: 2012-03-25
Packaged: 2017-11-02 11:58:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/368750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therumjournals/pseuds/therumjournals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One-word prompt: geezer</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quality of Life

“Come on, Chris, don’t be so ageist.”

“Ageist? Are you kidding me? Is that even a thing?”

“Yes, it’s a thing. It’s a thing that you’re basically personifying by not wanting to volunteer at the Senior Center with me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to!”

Zach raised an eyebrow.

“It’s just, you know…old people…wheelchairs…drool…blech!”

“You’re ageist, and you’re scared of facing your own mortality.”

“Mortality, I have no problem with. I have a problem with…the degrading quality of life, the body wasting away, the…the…” he twirled his finger next to his head, “the crazy.”

“Come with me on Saturday. If you don’t like it, I swear I won’t bother you about it again.”

“Okay, fine.”

“Thank you.”

“Zach?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re so nice.”

Zach grinned and ruffled Chris’s hair. “Keep hanging out with me, and maybe some of it will rub off on you.”

Chris made a face. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

**

“Okay, do you have any fours – Seymour? Seymour, pay attention, put those down.” Chris reached across the table, but Seymour slipped Chris’s sunglasses onto his face before he could grab them. He grinned at Chris and gave him a thumbs up, and Chris could only shake his head and laugh. “You’re a rockstar, Seymour. I always knew it.”

“Hey Chris. Hey Chris.”

“Yeah, Morris?”

“Can you get me some pudding?”

“No,” Zach interjected gently, “It’s not dinner time yet, Morris. You have to wait until dinner to get your pudding.”

Chris gave Zach a tolerant look and patted him on the shoulder. “Zach, it’s fine. I’ll steal him a pudding from the cafeteria.”

“The nurses weren’t too thrilled with you the last time you did that, Chris.”

“Well, then it’s your job to make sure they don’t find out. Do that thing where you run your hand through your hair, that usually distracts them.” Chris made a move to stand up from the table. “Martha, can you let go of my hand for a sec?”

Martha smiled toothlessly at him and squeezed his hand a little tighter.

“Hey Martha,” Chris said, sitting back down and taking her other hand in his. “It’s almost time for us to go, Martha, but we’ll be back next week, okay? And I promise, you can hold my hand the whole time again, just like you like to.”

Martha sighed, but she let Chris pull his hands away. Chris stood and wrapped his arms around Zach’s shoulders for a quick hug. “Come on. Let’s get Morris his pudding and head out.”

 

As they exited out the front of the Senior Center, Zach reached out to grab Chris’s hand. “You really love this, don’t you?” he asked, awe in his voice.

Chris shrugged modestly, but nodded, unable to contain his smile. “I do. I don’t know why, Zach, but I do.”

Zach pulled him close and whispered in his ear. “Chris.”

“What?”

“Did you let Seymour keep your sunglasses?”

“Oh, uh. Yeah, yeah, I guess I did,” Chris said, smiling even wider.

Zach laughed. “You’re so nice.”

Chris turned his bright grin on Zach and reached up to muss his hair. “Keep hanging out with me, and maybe some of it will rub off on you,” he said.

“I hope so,” Zach said, squeezing Chris’s hand. “I really, really hope so.”


End file.
